Means for mounting fallers in a textile gill box

ABSTRACT

In a textile gill box of the type in which fallers are mounted between a pair of endless chains, each chain carries a series of housings for the reception of the ends of fallers and these housings are alternately offset in a direction lateral of the chain by a distance at least equal to the length of the housings with the result that adjacent housings are able to overlap as a whole without the necessity for interleaving. As a result, it is possible to make each housing as a single unitary member which is conveniently moulded from a synthetic plastic such as nylon. In the simplest form of construction, alternate housings are located on opposite sides of a single chain, but as an alternative a duplex chain may be used. With a duplex chain, the housings may all be located in the central space between the sets of links, alternate housings may be located in the central space and on one side of the chain or alternate housings may be located on opposite sides of the chain as with a single chain. A further alternative is to use two single chains with the housings all on the same side of each chain, so that the overlap between adjacent housings is obtained by relative displacement of the two chains.

[4 1 Dec. 17,1974

1 1 MEANS FOR MOUNTING FALLERS IN A TEXTILE GILL BOX .lohn K. P. Mackie, Belfast, Northern Ireland [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: James Mackie & Sons Limited,

Belfast, Northern Ireland 221 Filed: N0v.'6, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 303,922

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 18, 1971 Great Britain 53630/71 [52] U.S. CI. 19/127 [51] Int. Cl D0lg 19/10 [58] Field of Search 19/127, 129; 198/189, 195; 59/1, 5, 7; 74/250 R, 255 R, 245 R, 245 C,

Primary ExaminerDorsey Newton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Brisebois & Kruger [5 7] ABSTRACT v In a textile gill box of the type in which fallers are mounted between a pair of endless chains, each chain carries'a series of housings for the reception of the ends of fallers and these housings are alternately offset in a direction lateral of the chain by a distance at least equal to the length of the housings with the result that adjacent housings are able to overlap as a whole without the necessity for interleaving. As a result, it is possible to make each housing as a single unitary member which is conveniently moulded from a synthetic plastic such as nylon. In the simplest form of construction, alternate housings are located on opposite sides of a single chain, but as an alternative a duplex chain may be used. ith a duplex'chain, the housings may all-be located in the central space between the sets of links, alternate housings may belocated in the central space and on one side of the chain or alternate housings may be located on opposite sides of the chain as with a single chain. A further alternative is to use two single chains with the housings all on the same side of each chain, so that the overlap between adjacent housings is obtained by relative displacement of the two chains.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEC 1 7 I974 saw 10F 2 PATENTEL SEC 1 7 I974 SHEET 2 OF 2 NM NM fi U\N@ MM, I Q n Wm W I u n mmn n n u H II M P Wm w n WMIHI] u 1 4$ Q N n u u A, QN QM MW QN H 4 M mm M W I W IM AWN Qw H. w? L S M mm w W\ +H the same time it has been necessary to provide adegle chain. They may, however, all be located on the tween the sets of links of the chain, but on alternate This invention relates to gill boxes for the drafting of textile fibres. As an alternative to the common form of screw drive in a gill box, the fallers may be mounted between a pair of endless driving chains which allows faster operation than with a screw drive. The chains are subjected to very considerable wear and expensive,

high-duty chains are necessary. In the normal form of construction the ends of the fallers are held in housings on the chains and for this reason it'has been possible to use standard chains since the links of the chain have had to be shaped to define the housings.

In order to fit the fallers to the chains at the necessary close spacing, i.e., with adjacent fallers practically touching one another, every link has had to be shaped to define a housing for the end-of a faller so that adjacent fallers effectively overlap one another. Since at quate length for each housing (i.e., measured in a direction transverse to the length of the chain) each link (and its associated housing) has had to be formed from a number of leaves which have been interleaved or intermeshed with the corresponding leaves of the next link. The relative thinness of these leaves means. that they have been susceptible to damage and if only one of them has become slightly bent it has prevented the correct intermeshing of the other leaves of the link.

According to the present invention, the housings are alternately offset in a direction laterally of the chain by a distance at least equal to the length of the housings (measured in the direction of the length of, the fallers, that is to say transversely of the chain), In other words, instead of being effectively in line with one another as in the past, with the corresponding necessity for interleaving as described above, alternate housings overlap one another as a whole and may thus be of a solid construction which is very much stronger and more robust than previous constructions assembled from individual leaves. i

The offsetting which is'necessary to produce this result may be achieved in various ways. Most simply, altemate housings are located on opposite sides of a sin-' same side of a single chain but at different spacings from its centre line or a duplex chain be'used which leads to a number of further variations. For example, the housings may be located in thecentral space besides of the centre line. Other possibilities are for alter- I nate housings to be located on one side of the chain and one-piece housings to be used.

With a construction in accordance with the invention, it 'is' no longer necessary for the housings to be formed as parts of the links of the chains sinceeach housing may be a separate component which is merely secured to the chain. Two major advantages arise from this. In the first place it is possible to use what is other- With the housings formed separately from the chain itself, it becomes possible to make them of a range of different materials. In particular, each housing may be in the form of a moulding of synthetic plastic which leads to advantages both from the point of view of weight and expense. Metal may stillbe used, however, if this is found desirable in any particular circumstances. When the housings are formed from a plastic such as nylon, any wear which occurs due to etching will be absorbed by the housings rather than by the fallers themselves. When this wear becomes excessive, it is a relatively simple matter to replace the worn housing which is much cheaper than replacement of the faller itself which has been necessary in the past. Instead of nylon, other synthetic materials may be selected for their wear-resistant properties such, for example, as the hard grade of polyurethane available under the Registered Trade Mark Vulkollan.

Constructions in accordance with the invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompany drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing two short lengths of chain carrying a number of fallers between them supported by associated parts of a textile gill box, central portions of the fallers being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 1, but omitting the parts of the gill box; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a short length of duplex chain in accordance with the invention.

Turning first to FIG. 1, short lengths of chain are indicated generally as 1 and 2. These each form part of an endless chain driven around a closed circuit so as to move fallers 3 along the working reach of the gill box of which the illustrated mechanism forms part. Each of thefallers 3 is broken away in the middle since, in practice, they are considerably longer than illustrated and each faller is also shown as carrying only a few pins 4, whereas in practice the whole of the effective length of each faller is provided with such pins. The fallers are illustrated at a point in the working reach of the gill box where they are supported by slides, of which parts are shown at 5. In addition, each faller is formed with a cranked end portion 6 fitted with a runner 7 cooperating with a guide track, of which part is shown at 8. These serve to control the angular positions of the pins 4 throughout the circuit.

Each of the chains 1 and 2 is basically of a standard type comprising rollers 12 joined by links 13 and held together by pins 14. In addition to the normal components of such a chain, each chain also carries housings '20 for the support of the fallers 3. Considering the chain 1, for example, the first of the illustrated housings, 20a is on the inside of the chain, the next housing 20b is on the outside of the chain. the next, 200 is on the inside of the chain and so forth alternately along the whole length of the chain. ln other words, each housing 20 is offset from the next by a distance equal to the length of the housing (measured in the direction of the length of the fallers 3) plus the width of the chain. Consequently, although there is one housing for each link 13 of the chain, there is no need for adjacent housings 3 to be interleaved and the construction is thereby considerably simplified. Each housing 20 is supported by two of the pins 14 which pass through corresponding holes in the housing and must consequently be approximately three times as long as in a standard chain. The assembly is completed by further links 22 which fit outside the housings 20 and the pins 14 are riveted over at the ends to hold these links and hence the housings 20 in position. The chain 2 is, of course, constructed identically.

It will be observed that adjacent fallers 3 have their cranked portions 6 at opposite ends so that the arrangement of fallers alternates aroundv the circuit and the construction of the housings 20 alternates accordingly to-accommodate these fallers. It will be seen that the housings 20 for receiving the ends of fallers without cranked portions, e.g. the housings 20a and 20c are formed with sockets 24 for the reception of reduced end portions 25 of the fallers, these sockets being 7 closed at the top so that the fallers have to be slid into position in an axial direction. On the other hand, the alternate housings mounted on the outside of each chain are formed with sockets 27 having open tops 28. Each faller 3 is formed with a flattened portion 30 of reduced diameter which, in the position shown is located slightly inwardly of the respective housing 20. During assembly, these portions 30 are passed through the open tops 28 of the housings 20 and, in this position, the reduced diameter portions 25 at the opposite ends of the respective fallers are just clear of their sockets on the other chain. When each faller is then slid in an axial direction until the reduced end portion is received by its socket 24 (which has .a closed top) the portions 30 are moved away from the open tops of their sockets into the position shown in FIG. -1 in which the faller can no longer be lifted out of its housing. Details of the construction can be seen somewhat more clearly in: the plan view of FIG. 2 which does not include the parts and 8 of the gill box itself or the links 22'which hold the housings in positiomThis view helps to clarify the alternate arrangement of the fallers with the reduced diameter end portions received in housings 20 on the inside of each chain and the portions of the fallers 3 adjacent the cranked end portion 6 located in the housings 20 with open-topped sockets on the'outside of each chain.

FIG. 3 illustrates ashort length of chain which can or, for example, by mounting them alternately in the central space and on one side of the chain. A further possibility would be to make the two sets of rollers and links independent of one another, i.e. to use two separate chains for supporting alternate housings.

Whatever the details of the constructiomthe housings 20, 40 are preferably made ofa synthetic material such as nylon which enables each housing to be formed as a one-piece moulding. Owing to the relatively soft nature of the material of the housings, any wear which occurs due to etching will merelyenlarge the sockets in the housings rather than the fallers themselves and when this wear becomes excessive, it is a relatively simple matter to replace any worn housings. For this pur-- pose it is merely necessary to remove the outermost links 22 in the construction of FIGS. 1 and 2 or corresponding links in the construction of FIG. 3. This entails extracting a pair of pins 14 or 34, then replacing these pins and riveting the ends after a new housing has been fitted in position. If, under any particular circumstances, unduly frequent replacement of the housings becomes necessary, the outermost links can be replaced by spring clips which can be slid on and off withtake the place of the chains 1 and 2 of FIGS. 1 and 2.

The main difference is that the chain 30 is of duplex construction, i.e. comprising basically two separate sets of rollers and links 32 and 33, corresponding to the parts 12 and 13 in FIGS. 1 and 2, with a central space 35 between them, but held together by common pins culty.

The arrangement illustrated in FIG. 3 saves space by including the housings in the central space 35, but it would be equally possible to provide a considerably greater offset between adjacent housings by mounting them alternately on opposite outer sides of the chain out the need for replacement of the pins. If, however,

one of thefallers eve'ntally needs replacement, this also can be carried out very simply.

I claim:

1. Means for mounting fallers in a textile gill box including:

chain means comprising a plurality of links and a plu- 1 rality of pins connecting said links to form'said chain means, r

a plurality of housings secured to said chain means in a succession along thelength thereof but individually separable therefrom, said housings having recesses therein for the reception of the ends of fallers, which recesses'extend for a predetermined distance transverse to the length of the chain means,

said pins being located in openings in said links distinct from the recesses in said housings, and

each housing being spaced in said transverse direction from the housing next in said succession by a distance at least equal to said predetermined distance.

2. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which said chain means comprises a single series of links, alternate housings being located on opposite sides of said series of links.

3. Faller mounting means according to claim 1 in which said chain means comprises a double series of links with a central space between them, said pins connecting links in both series whereby a constitute a duplex chain, and said housings being located in the central space between said links.

4. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is formed as a single unitary member.

5. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is located by adjacent pins of said chain means.

6. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is in the form of a moulding of synthetic plastic.

7. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which the successive housings in said succession are closed-topped sockets the reception of the fallers.

for 

1. Means for mounting fallers in a textile gill box including: chain means comprising a plurality of links and a plurality of pins connecting said links to form said chain means, a plurality of housings secured to said chain means in a succession along the length thereof but individually separable therefrom, said housings having recesses therein for the reception of the ends of fallers, which recesses extend for a predetermined distance transverse to the length of the chain means, said pins being located in openings in said links distinct from the recesses in said housings, and each housing being spaced in said transverse direction from the housing next in said succession by a distance at least equal to said predetermined distance.
 2. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which said chain means comprises a single series of links, alternate housings being located on opposite sides of said series of links.
 3. Faller mounting means according to claim 1 in which said chain means comprises a double series of links with a central space between them, said pins connecting links in both series whereby a constitute a duplex chain, and said housings being located in the central space between said links.
 4. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is formed as a single unitary member.
 5. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is located by adjacent pins of said chain means.
 6. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which each said housing is in the form of a moulding of synthetic plastic.
 7. Faller mounting means according to claim 1, in which the successive housings in said succession are formed alternately with open-topped sockets and closed-topped sockets for the reception of the fallers. 